There are no Prime-universe elements in Countdown to Darkness. See this interview, in particular this quote: "Our instinct now is to leave well enough alone and let this timeline stand on its own." And cowriter Mike Johnson said, "No Prime connections in this one. The priority is exploring this new reality." That doesn't exclude an entirely different universe, but that would go against the grain of their interview. In other words, this is the Robert April of JJ-Trek we're seeing in Countdown to Darkness.

What if Khan's sleeper ship, Botany Bay, was once found by Captain Robert April's earlier Enterprise - and Khan and his Augments took over the ship and... abandoned April and his crew on Phaedus?

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Do we really know that it is an earlierEnterprise? Maybe I just have my head stuck too firmly in Final Frontier, but I can't imagine an earlier Enterprise for him that isn't NCC-1701.

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But in the JJ-verse NCC-1701 didn't launch until 2258... in this reality Starfleet could have had another Enterprise sometime between 2233 and 2258 that April commanded at some point. It's no less ridiculous than some of the other timeline changes the comics have introduced. (In the prime universe, April supposedly commanded NCC-1701 from 2245 - 2250; in the JJ-verse it didn't exist at that time.)

April's exact line identifies himself as "former captain of a ship called Enterprise", so presumably either he commanded NCC-1701 during a pre-launch shakedown cruise before Pike took over for the maiden voyage in ST09, or there was an earlier Enterprise. (Or they get cute by saying April's Enterprise wasn't a Starfleet ship, but he appears to be wearing a variant Starfleet uniform complete with arrowhead insignia, so...)

Have him command an Enterprise with a different registry. We've seen it happen before. Maybe in this universe they won't go with letters.

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The problem there becomes "why was 1701 held for later, rather than being available when it was in the Prime Universe"?

I'm wondering if there was a different Enterprise - a 1000-range ship like the Constellation? - that was destroyed in the Prime timeline and not in the new one. So in the new universe, April didn't get to be a keel plate owner.

^"Held for later?" That implies that the number would've had some special significance in-universe, which doesn't make sense. The only reason it seems significant to us fans is because we've associated it with our favorite ship for decades. In-universe, before the Enterprise was built, 1701 would've been just another number, no more significant than any other.

^"Held for later?" That implies that the number would've had some special significance in-universe, which doesn't make sense. The only reason it seems significant to us fans is because we've associated it with our favorite ship for decades. In-universe, before the Enterprise was built, 1701 would've been just another number, no more significant than any other.

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That was badly phrased; I didn't mean to imply it was deliberately reserved, but rather that I would've expected an Enterprise commissioned in ~2245 under April's command to have used that number (unless Starfleet drastically cut their shipbuilding numbers compared to the Prime universe).

That said, I'm now less convinced of that point the more that I think about it.

I'm wondering if there was a different Enterprise - a 1000-range ship like the Constellation? - that was destroyed in the Prime timeline

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Not possible. In "Trials and Tribble-ations" Dulmur and Lucsly say that there have been six Federation ships named Enterprise. This includes the original 1701, plus the A through E versions. That's it.

Not possible. In "Trials and Tribble-ations" Dulmur and Lucsly say that there have been six Federation ships named Enterprise. This includes the original 1701, plus the A through E versions. That's it.

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D'oh. Forgot about that. Well, now I'm really interested to find out what ship April captained.

^But that's the original timeline. The Abrams timeline diverged in 2233 -- which is why NCC-1701 was launched in 2258 instead of 2245, why Chekov is four years older, etc. So it's conceivable that there could've been an earlier Enterprise launched between 2233 and 2258.

Lauched earlier and destroyed quickly enough in order the start construction of the constitution class Enterprise to fit the jj time line?

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That would mean they actually name the ships before building them. Do we have any evidence of that?

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Ignoring the Enterprise-A (which may or may not be a new build), do we have any evidence that Starfleet doesn't? The US Navy certainly does (see the Enterprise CVN-80 - named and registered, not scheduled to begin building until 2018).

Lauched earlier and destroyed quickly enough in order the start construction of the constitution class Enterprise to fit the jj time line?

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That would mean they actually name the ships before building them. Do we have any evidence of that?

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Ignoring the Enterprise-A (which may or may not be a new build), do we have any evidence that Starfleet doesn't? The US Navy certainly does (see the Enterprise CVN-80 - named and registered, not scheduled to begin building until 2018).

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We'd also have to ignore the Enterprise-E, which launched a little over a year after the destruction of her predecessor.